System and methods for the production of hydrogen gas

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for using industrial waste for the production of hydrogen gas. The method includes examining a pH level of the industrial waste, removing contaminate from the industrial waste, conditioning and concentrating the industrial waste to a proton-rich solution, and using the resulting proton-rich solution as the proton source in a hydrogenase catalyzed hydrogen production system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of using an acidic industrial waste as a source of protons for production of hydrogen gas, the method comprising:
 removing organic matter from the acidic industrial waste, the acidic industrial waste being metal-based;   forming a proton-rich solution by conditioning and concentrating the acidic industrial waste;   supplying electrons by applying an electron source to the proton-rich solution; and   using the resulting proton-rich solution as the proton source, the supplied electrons as an electron source to be combined with the protons, and hydrogenase as a catalyst to produce H 2 .   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising removing one or more metals from the acidic industrial waste. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising removing one or more of Au, Ag, Zn, Fe, Ca, Cu, Ni, Ti from the acidic industrial waste. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the conditioning comprises processing the acidic industrial waste through a membrane filtration system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the conditioning comprises reverse osmosis. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein conditioning comprises electro dialysis. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the conditioning comprises concentrating the acidic industrial waste to pH of less than 6.5. 
     
     
         8 . A method for using an acidic industrial waste for production of hydrogen gas, the method comprising:
 examining the acidic industrial waste for one or more conditions at an industrial waste site;   removing contaminate and organic matter from the acidic industrial waste;   concentrating and conditioning the industrial waste to a predefined pH of 6.5 or below to form a proton-rich solution; and   using the resulting proton-rich solution as a proton source in a biologically-catalyzed hydrogen production system to produce hydrogen gas.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising examining the acidic industrial waste for one or more conditions at an industrial waste site. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the examining is executed by a server system. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising transporting the proton-rich solution from the industrial waste site before applying the electron source. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing the produced H 2  in a hydrogen absorbing compound. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the acidic industrial waste is a metal-containing industrial waste. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising supplying electrons by applying an electron source to the proton-rich solution. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the biological catalyst is hydrogenase. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the concentrating and conditioning are performed at the industrial waste site. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising transporting the proton-rich solution from the industrial waste site to the hydrogen production system. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more conditions include a predefined pH, a predefined water concentration, and/or radiation below a threshold. 
     
     
         19 . A method of using an acidic industrial waste as a source of protons in a hydrogen gas production, the method comprising:
 at an acidic industrial waste site
 (a) examining the acidic industrial waste for one or more conditions including pH; 
 (b) removing organic matter from the acidic industrial waste; and 
 (c) conditioning the acidic industrial waste to generate a proton-rich solution; 
   supplying electrons to the proton-rich solution; and   combining protons from the proton-rich solution with the electrons to generate hydrogen gas in a reaction catalyzed by a biological catalyst.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the biological catalyst is hydrogenase.